Automatic feeder for roll-film cameras



Sept. 18, 192:1.v

1,468,191 ZANQLINI AUTOMATIC'FEEDER FOR ROLL FILM CAMERAS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Nov. 15. 1921 INVENTOR. 11 jgaia Zawaivzz.

Sept. 18,1923. 11,468,191

' l. ZANQLINI AUTOMATIC FEEDER FOR ROLL FILM CAMERAS Filed Nov. 15 ,1921 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 23- 5;

INVENTOR. 1mm ZmaFwz Patented Sept. 18, 1923.

UNETED? STATES rare ITALOH ZANOLINIfOF BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA. I

AUTOMATIC FOR ROLL-FILM CAMERAS.

Application filed November 15,1921. Serial No. 515,231.

T ball whom wit may concern:

Be it known that .1, 1mm madma a citizen-o'f-- the United states, residing atBerke- 1ey,in the countyof-A a thecaanera will simply depress a lever where "upon the feeding apparatuswill rotate the iornia, have inventeda new andusefuLAutomatic Feeder for .RollrFilmCameraSyof which'thefollowingis a specification insuch full and'clearterms as will. enable those: skilled injthe art to construct and use the same.

r This invention urelates to an automatic feederfor roll film -cameras andjits ob] ect 1s,

to PIOVldB IIIBEIISsWlIGIGbY the person using spool the necessary-amount to take, up the-blank paper attheend-ofa film, and

after the blank paper hasbeentaken up will draw the film through the cameraystep by "step; each movement being suificient to place a fresh-filmin the-proper position to have animpressionmade thereupon.

A further-.objectofothe lnventionris to produce a feeding device-which will compensate for the-changed, diameter of the spool of film so .rthata-the same: amount-of film will be drawn. oft Zthe, freshroll. each time regardlessof thefact thattherollillpon which-the film. is being wound is: not tu rned the preciseinumbenof turnsnear either end of the roll that itis turned-near the middle ofthefiltn; i

Another obj ect of the; invention-is Qto provide means whereby the roll carrying the fresh film will be retardedlsufliciently near the end of the movementof the film-to hold thefilm tight. v

Another object of the" invention is to" provide'the back ofthe camera with a convene ient indicator which will-notonly show the number of filmsthat have been used but can i also be used to wind the spring which oper ates the feeder. e

Other objects of the invention will appear as the description proceeds.-

Anfembodiment or the invention is shown inthe accompanying drawings in which the same ,reference. numeral -is applied to the same portionthroughout,but I am aware that there maybe modifications th'ereoh F 1 is" a backview of the camera; with 1 the coverenclosing-theoperating mechanism removed "for purpose of-illustratiqni apparatus being pivot pin-for the lower film roll, and

Fig. 6 is a view of a portion of the driving gear showing the'pins thereon and illustrating its relation to the-frame carrying the releasing pawl and releasing lever.

Thls apparatusis assembled on theremovable back 1' of a common form of camera 2 having the usualbellows 3 iorconfining the l light to the film, and having the usual focusing apparatus which forms-n part of the present invention.

At the top 'of the camera there is -a slidable pin 4: which engages the end of the spool 5 upon which the film is to be wound. -=This pm has lugs 6 and 7 such as are commonly used to rotate the film spool 5.. This. pin is slidable througha small gear 8, said gear *being held in its proper place by means of suitable ball bearings9. The pin 4 is slidable longitudinally toengage'or disengage t from the spool 5 which isrotatedby the :ggear 8 or may be rotated by hand by the user engaging the handle-10.

At'the lower end of the camera there is a pin 11 which is slidable longitudinally-t0 be engaged or disengaged from the spool of fresh film 12. 1 This pin is slidable through the hub of a disk 13,-said disk being engaged by the brake lever 14, as willbe later mo re fully explained to prevent-the filmroll 12 from unwinding too rapidly. V

The pin 11 has two lugs 15 and 16 which engage thespool-12 and enable the disk 13 to prevent its too rapid rotation.

The driving mechanism is allassembled upon the cover 1, said cover being of an ordinary form detachable from the camera body proper and having a spring latch 17 of any approved design for holding'the camera and backtogether.

The driving mechanism comprisesa large gear 20 with an operating handle and pointer 2l, which' handle serves to wind up thespiral spring 22 enclosed withinthe gear and under the casing 23. The gear is provided'with Fig.2 is a vertical sectional viewof the camera looking at right angles Figure 1,the

a flange 24 and with aseries of balls 2-5 to act as an end friction bearing forthe gear.

desired amount of fihnwith each movement.

of the gear 20L The gear 20 is in mesh with ajsmaller gear,

36 loosely mounted on a stud shaft 37, and

this gear has a pawl 38' held inengage'ment with a ratchet wheel 39 by means of a light spring 405- The fratchet wheel 39Zis carried by a tube 4L1 to which the gear HZ/is connect-' :ed; The object of the pawl is to preventthe 43 on a short shaft e hsaid shaft also carrying a larger gear 45 whlclrhas teeth of such shape as to'be meshed at right angles to the teeth of the gear 46. The gear 46 is in mesh the gear 20 to rotate it.

with the gear 8which drives the pin t to-ro- *tate the spool upon-which the film is to be 'wound. V 1 The casing back 23 has a flange 50 to which one end of the spring 22 iscOnnected, said spring being connected at its other end tothe flange 51 at the outer portion of At the bottom of o the back there is a U-shaped plate 54; This plate'forms'the support for the pivot pin fiat'spring 66' is secured to the U-shapedsupport 54to hold the pawl 63 engaged withor disengaged from the gear20. The

55 carrying the lever 56, which lever pro- The lever 56 has a heel piece 58 which bears upon a bell crank 'lever' 59 in turn connected to'a link'60. The bell crank-59 has a heel vpiece 61 which bears-upon an other lever 62.The' lever '62- has the pawl 63 which engages and 'stopsthe gear 20, and in order that it may be'worked by hand it has a projectingpoint 64:.

At thejbottom of the enclosing casing a link is connected to a'hook shaped lever f 67 pivoted at 68 to engage one oftheescape- Inent wheels 69.,

.QThe escapement wheel 69 hasthreearms andit in turn engagesthe three-armed escapement 70f pivotally mounted at"? 1 and capable of engaging" the pins 25 to 35 on the gear 20. The lever 67, escapement wheel 69 and escapement stop70 are all pivoted on'a plate/T2 secured within the casing at the back and'belo w the gear20. The plate 72 also su )o'rts a lever 73 which has two The arm enga arms 74;, 75. .7 I V es a notch in the brake *lever 1456 that whenit is raised it releases the brake from the disk wheel 13, butwhen it is. lowered, the arm 75 engages the back of the brake arm 77 and causesthespool carrying the supply of film to be held back enoiwh to insure drawin u the film snu l a: a v b y and smoothly,

' The lever 14: is pivotally mounted in two brackets 14 and 14:"; A" spring 78 insures the proper operation of the lever 73, while a-spring 79 insuresthe lever 56'being rej stored to its initialposition. a 70 The operationofthe apparatus is as follows: When theuser has placed a fresh film-in thelowenportion of the camera, he will in the usual manner engage the upper end of the film with the upper spool assing 75 it o'ver thetwo small rollers-80, 81' at the, 7 back of the camera tohold itin the proper fixing plane. a f The. spring :22 will then, be wound up by rotation, thepointer 21 n1ov ing from -zero aroundwto zero again one turn. This will not rotate any gears ex- 7 cept the gears QO and. the small gear carrying the pawl 38; thereupon the back will be engaged with the camera and locked inf position. This willbring'ithejtwo gears 85 A5, 46 into contact and whenthe operator desiresto make the first-exposure he will depress the lever 56'. v This will releasethe pawl 63, at the same timelthe escapement, mechanism will be'rota-ted a portion of one turn so that the next pin on the gear20 will strike the escapement stop, thereby leaving the-film in the properposition to take the first picture." Thereafter each" time the lever 56 is pressedonce, ne more film will be moved fromthe exposed position to the i concealed position on the'storage roller at the top of the camera. 6

During the carrying out of these operafor 'differentsized filmsindifferentforms no of cameras, and for a larger 0158111211161 number of filmexposuresfthe, present apparatus being intended to operate on films having ten exposures, o r

l/Vhat I, claim. is as f0llows,;-but various modifications may bemade in the construction shown in the drawings and above cparticularly j described form, within the purview of my invention:

A cameraof the classdescribed com- 12 V prising a camera-,a removable back therefor, a springseouredito ,the'back'atone .end,'a wheel adapted to be, rotated by said spring, a series ofstops on the wheel, aI-film storage spool, andmeans whereby thefwheel 1 will operate said storage:spoolintermittent- 1y to causean exposed length "of filmro' be wound thereon. 2. A camera of the class described com? prising a casing, a pair of film spools there- 'tions, the brake 1i will be. shifted to bear -1 in, a removable back therefor, a spring lever projecting from the camera to release secured to the back at one end, means conthe escapement to permit the movements to nected With said spring to rotate one of the take place as may be desired. 10 film spools step by step to present a fresh In testimony whereof I have hereunto 5 length of film to the exposure position,- an set my hand this 31st day of October A. D.

escapement to allow a given amount of film 1921.

to be Wound up with each movement, and a ITALO ZANOLINI. 

